I am currently in the early stages of writing a book called Make Like Your Maker: Make What Your Maker Made You to Make. I decided to share this excerpt because it really speaks to the beginning of the creative process. For more on Make Like Your Maker go to my author page. In the Beginning I’ve always been an artist. I haven’t always been a believer, but when I was starting to explore faith, I decided I needed to... Read more
February 17 is Random Acts of Kindness Day. What better opportunity is there for Christians to live out 1 Peter 4:10, “Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others…?” Here are 10 random acts of kindness Christian creatives can do to make a difference. 1. Make and Takes You’ve no doubt seen them around. Someone takes a rock and paints it, leaving it somewhere for someone else to find. It’s a little treasure to brighten someone’s... Read more
I know it’s been a while. I haven’t written in several months. The reason is simple. I was burned out. Have you been there? A Labor of Love I have a hard time understanding how it happened. I love doing what I do. I love writing, creating, you name it. Nearly everything I do professionally is more joy than job. Yes I know how blessed I am and how rare it is to live that way. I also really love... Read more
Don’t get me wrong, there are some things in this life that are very complex and hard to understand, but there are a lot of things that really aren’t. So today, please hear my plea. Don’t overcomplicate your life. Your Life Is a Line One of the things that I think people really overcomplicate is the idea of sin and repentance. It’s not all that complicated. Sin is anything that God calls sin, and repentance is turning from it. To... Read more
Did you ever think of the spiritual implications of a monarch butterfly? A few years ago, a couple came into my church, Matt and Charlotte Kulp. Their hobby is raising monarch butterflies—upward of 500 a year. They wanted to tell the world about their hobby, share the Gospel and generate awareness, so they started a YouTube channel called Monarch Miracles. They also decided to do a presentation for churches and civic groups and asked me to help them create the... Read more
I was asked this question today. What Is Beauty? About an hour ago, I was on my Zoom call for Christian Creatives, which was started by Dr. William Barnett over at International Network of Creatives and the question was posed. What is beauty? It’s harder to define than you think and that concerns me. I will confess for a person who has spent his entire life in the arts in one form or another, I was struggling to define beauty.... Read more
Have you heard of the K.I.S.S. Method? It’s and acronym for Keep it Simple Stupid. In my last column, I wrote about the simple truth and how sometimes I think we overcomplicate the Word of God. Part of that post was inspired by a book. I never got around to talking about the book. Let’s change that today. Thanks Jon Acuff I was listening to Jon Acuff’s Podcast, All It Takes Is a Goal. He was talking about how he... Read more
What if we’re overcomplicating it? What if God’s Word is really a simple truth? I Can Remember It Like It Was Yesterday… though it was long ago. I was alone on a literal mountain top and I was crushed. I was looking out over a valley in which some of the great spiritual moments of my life had happened, but as I looked down, I was weeping. I felt like my ministry was completely misunderstood by the church I was... Read more
I know this is a weird position for me to take as some would consider my ministry a bells and whistles ministry, (though, of course I do not) but I do sometimes wonder do we need the bells and whistles? What Brought This On? There was a well publicized spat that happened at a recent men’s conference at James River Church. One of the forms of entertainment they had a the conference, featuring a shirtless male performer doing a routine... Read more
I try not to be one of those people who gets triggered, but I have to admit I got triggered the other day, and I was triggered by a weird word. The word was excellence. Oh excellence is a fine word with many fine applications, but when I hear it in connection to the church and especially arts in the church, I cringe and I have to fight against the urge to be triggered. If this sounds absolutely ridiculous to... Read more
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